Organic Living and Lifestyle Blog

Acid or Alkaline – How to Measure Your pH

September 22nd, 2008

Have you just heard about alkalizing your body and want to know more?

How to Measure Your pH

The best way to measure your acidity / alkalinity levels is by testing your urine first thing in the morning. You can also test your saliva but this is not as accurate as it is affected by digestive enzymes.

What Should Your pH Be?

Urine pH can vary from around 4.5 to 9.0 for its extremes, but the ideal range is 6.5 to 7.0+. Saliva pH ideal range is 7.0 - 7.5+.

According to Dr Robert Young, author of “The pH Miracle”, a saliva reading consistently lower than 6.8 is indicative of possible insufficient alkaline reserves. After eating, the saliva pH should rise to 7.8 or higher. Unless this occurs, the body has alkaline mineral deficiencies (mainly Calcium and Magnesium) and will not assimilate food very well. To deviate from ideal salivary pH for an extended time invites illness. If your saliva stays between 6.8 and 7.2+ pH all day, your body is functioning within a healthy range.

It is important to note that there is a difference between the pH values of food before and after they are eaten. Citrus fruits, such as lemons and grapefruits are highly acidic, but turn alkaline when they are metabolized by the body.

 

How To Test Your Urine pH:

During urination for the first time in the morning, dip the tape in the FLOW of the urine. Do not urinate in a glass or cup and then immerse the tape as this can change the result.

Urine is usually more acidic in the morning. Many holistic doctors recommend that urine testing be done first thing in the morning before any foods are consumed. During the day the pH may be heavily influenced by the acid or alkaline forming potential of the foods consumed.

 

My pH this morning was 6.0 (see below picture) which is shocking low for me. I’m normally in the high 6s or low 7s. If I ignore this indication that I have too much acid then my body can get run down and I’m more susceptible to colds and flu. It tells me that I really need to take action to increase my alkalinity which is generally lots of fresh greens and water and good quality sleep. I know that I can normally bring my alkalinity back up within 1-2 days so I just need to do a couple of things and my pH will be high again soon and my body will be healthy and strong.

 

 

 

What Lowers or Increases Your pH?

· stress

· food you’ve eaten

· preservatives in food

· how much water you drink (alkaline water)

· pollutants in the air

· level of bacteria, yeast, fungus in your body

· quality (and quantity) of your sleep

· all the biochemical activities going on in your body

How To Test Your Saliva pH:

1. Test at least 2 hours after eating. Do not drink or brush your teeth at least 30 minutes before testing.

2. Draw saliva into your mouth then swallow. Repeat

3. Draw saliva again into your mouth and with most of the saliva on the tongue, quickly place the pH testing paper on the tongue touching the saliva

4. Compare the colour change to that on the dispenser

 

Where Can You Buy pH testing strips? I originally bought my litmus paper strips from an alternative health practioner because I found them quite hard to find. But there are plenty of places you can buy pH test strips online now - check out ebay or Amazon. You want to make sure whichever one you get ranges from 5.5 - 8.0 and shows the range in increments of at least 0.2 because there’s a huge difference between 6.4 and 6.6 as you can read below.

How Does pH work?

In our own body tissues, the pH range is from 0.1 (stomach acid) to 9.0 (pancreatic juices). The middle pH value of 7.0 is considered to be neutral (not acid or alkaline). The bloodstream has a range of 7.2 to 7.45 and is slightly on the alkaline side.

Urine, on the other hand, is acidic at pH 5 or alkaline at pH 8.

http://www.rnceus.com/ua/uaph.html

pH change is determined by logarithm units. This means if you start with a pH of 7.5 and it changes to 6.5, you have 10 times more acidity. When you have a pH change from 7.5 to 5.5, you have 100 times more acidity. If you have a pH change from 7.5 to 4.5, you have 1000 times more acidity!

“Cancer cells cannot exist in an alkaline environment”

UPDATE (24 hours later) Remember my pH was 6.0 yesterday? My urine pH is now back up at 6.8 which is right in the middle of the ideal range. Yesterday I ate lots of greens & water rich foods (see 10 Day Challenge meal ideas below), drank plenty of water and got a solid 7 hours sleep and was able to massively change my acidity is a very short time.  Remember acid is what breaks down our cells and ages us.

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Entry Filed under: Health